Cuomo: We need to plan, rebuild for ‘new reality’

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said flooding from storms Irene, Lee and Sandy have convinced him that New York City and the rest of the state face “a new reality” of “extreme weather events” and should be reconfigured to deal with it.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo inspects flooding at the World Trade Center site Monday night as Superstorm Sandy swept over New York City. (Howard Glaser via Twitter)

Essentially, the Democratic governor suggested that climate change is having a real impact, though he never used the politically charged term. Cuomo said he joked in a conversation yesterday with President Barack Obama that “we have a 100-year flood every two years now.” But during a press conference Tuesday morning to announce the extent of state damage, Cuomo turned serious on the point.

“I’m hopeful that not only will we rebuild this city and metropolitan area but use this as an opportunity to build it back smarter. There have been a series of extreme weather events. That is not a political statement; that is a factual statement. Anyone who says there is not a change in weather patterns is denying reality,” said Cuomo. “We have a new reality when it comes to these weather patterns; we have an old infrastructure, we have old systems. That is not a good combination and that is one of the lessons I will take from this, personally.”

It’s unclear what that might mean: a giant levee around Manhattan? Generators placed on rooftops instead of in building basements? Some mechanism to seal off subway and vehicle tunnels that move millions of people in and out of Manhattan each day?